I see a repeating theme of warnings of coming food shortages. I have advised over and over again the importance of getting your personal or community gardens going; saving seeds, buying heirloom seeds and storing seeds. Here is another report which warns of coming food shortages:
The Space and Science Research Center warns over the next 30 months, global temperatures are expected to make another dramatic drop with years of devastating to total crop losses in the Canadian and northern US grain regions.
Following a study of data that Monsanto was forced to publish it’s raw data on Genetically Modified crops, it has been found that the GM crops cause liver and kidney damage.
Save your heritage seeds! Buy only heirloom seeds or heritage seeds that are from organically grown crops!
Genetically modified seeds and crops are a travesty to our food supply!
Spring is sprung and it’s time to start your seedlings for a robust garden. Get some Peat Pots
and some good soil and start your seeds to be planted in your garden. Grow what your family will eat and maybe enough to trade or share with neighbors.
Get the seeds started in peat pots and get your garden ready by either tilling a garden spot or building a raised garden. You can also buy ready made DIY raised gardens: Frame It All Raised Vegetable Garden 4 Foot x 8 Foot
Make sure you have good soil. Get a compost bin or build one for future fertilizer.
Visit the website of your local Cooperative Extension for a gardening calendar of planting times/seasons of different crops that will thrive in your region.
Get your garden growing and have confidence that if there should be food shortages this year, that your family will be fed wholesome organic food.
You may have heard the recent news about the tomato crop failure due to the unusually cold winter in Florida. Perhaps we will be seeing more and more of crop failures due to weather or other causes. It’s a good idea to start yourself a garden.
One method I found extremely helpful is SQUARE FOOT GARDENING. If you don’t have a lot of space this is a perfect method. I happen to have land, but I am on a mountaintop and it’s very rocky land. I used the Square Foot Gardening method and built two raised gardens. I also use hanging baskets for beans and tomatoes.
I built a home made composting bin to recycle my scraps which becomes a good fertilizer for my gardens.
Gardening is relaxing, a family oriented hobby, free and healthy food and rewarding. No matter if you are a family of one or more, it’s wise to have a garden, recycle and compost your scraps, and save your seeds !!!! Be sure to buy heritage or open-pollinated heirloom seeds that have not been genetically modified. Find out if there is a “seed saver” group in your county where you can swap organic, non GMO seeds with others in your community. Your can find resources here: http://www.seedsavers.org/
Here is an extremely helpful resource for Square Foot Gardening … it has all the information you need to grow healthy, organic vegetables, herbs and fruit in the least amount of space:
Making a compost bin from a garbage can is a simple process that requires air flow in the trash and can be accomplished by drilling holes in the trash can’s sides. Here is a how-to video:
As for soil, the Square Foot Gardener book does have some very useful information. What I did was I drove to the local sawmill and filled some plastic bags with sawdust (they gave it to me for free, I had to do the shoveling). Then I went to a local farm that raised goats (livestock manures can be valuable additions to soil) and got some goat manure, which was also full of wonderful earth worms. It is best to allow three months between adding any livestock manure to your soil and the harvesting of any root crops or leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach to guard against contamination. (Tall crops such as corn and trellised tomatoes should be okay.) I mixed the manure and sawdust together with some soil and WahLah … rich fertile soil.
Make sure you and/or your family has access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Learning how to can food is the next step in the process and will stock your shelves with food.
ONE MAN, ONE COW, ONE PLANET is a celebration of the work of biodynamic pioneer Peter Proctor and the amazing success of marginal farmers across India: as they save their soils, their communities and their lives with organic and biodynamic agricultural.
An inspirational fight against the modern agricultural enslavement of indigenous farmers. Big corporations are devastating crop production through chemicals and genetically modified crops. This is the an astounding look at a pure and sustainable solution to these evils. A film which is beautifully written and well worth a look.
or build one for future fertilizer.
